But you'd never know it by watching over-the-air television in Los Angeles, even though the event was sold out.

It was on TNT Sports, as was the first playoff game in the series. Other games were on ESPN. ABC had, what, one (or two) games?

So has basketball moved, for the most part, to the kind of entertainment people must pay for in order to watch on television?

What's odd is to watch the local news in Los Angeles this morning. The Lakers won the Western Conference, and the anchors and sports reporters are all happy. Fans at the stadium where the game was played are happy. Los Angeles is happy!

Or is it? How many Laker fans in the city actually watched the final game? Certainly not as many as there would have been if the game was televised "old style", by a local independent channel.